Harvested fresh vegetables are normally packed in cartons provided with convenient hand hold opening on opposite ends. For example, fresh broccoli might constitute a typical perishable food handled in this manner. In order to preserve the freshness of the vegetables during shipment to various locations, the cartons themselves are normally treated with liquid ice and towards this end, there have been provided a number of systems for icing the cartons.
An example of an automatic liquid ice system such as discussed above is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,388 issued Feb. 10, 1981. In the system disclosed in this patent, cartons are passed along a conveyor belt and icing probes located in an overhead structure inject liquid ice into the contents of the box. As the box or carton moves down the conveyor belt, it is appropriately covered and ready for shipment.
The cartons of perishable food are normally dimensioned to be easily stacked in rows and columns on a pallet. As a result, a conventional forklift can be used for transferring the cartons from one location to another by simply lifting the pallet. However, when liquid ice is to be applied to the various cartons, it has always heretofore been necessary to unload the cartons from the pallet and place them on a conveyor such as described in my above U.S. patent or individually ice each of the cartons. The ice must then be replaced on a pallet or on another pallet for transference to a railroad car or truck for shipment.